Differential Challenges in Coalition Building Among HIV Prevention Coalitions Targeting Specific Youth Populations

Abstract

Coalitions provide the potential for merging the power, influence, and resources of fragmented individuals and institutions into one collective group that can more effectively focus its efforts on a specific community health issue. Connect to Protect® coalitions devote resources to address the HIV epidemic at a structural level. This study examines differential challenges in coalition processes that may hinder coalition building to achieve HIV prevention through structural change. Qualitative interviews conducted with community partners participating across 10 coalitions were analyzed to compare responses of those individuals working on HIV prevention coalitions targeting adolescent and young adult gay and bisexual men versus those targeting adolescent and young adult heterosexual women. Community partner responses revealed differences across several key areas including: (a) acceptability and goals in discussing sexual issues with adolescents, (b) goals of sexual health promotion activities, and (c) competition among collaborating agencies. Themes highlighted in this study can complement existing community intervention literature by helping community mobilizers, interventionists, and researchers understand how cultural norms affect youth-specific coalition work.

KEYWORDS:

• American and Latino adolescent and young adults
• coalitions
• HIV prevention
• structural change

Notes

Note. 1. Comments listed by frequency with which statements were made. The frequency appears after each statement. 2. Statements in italics are those that only appear in one column for that category.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Grisel M. Robles-Schrader

Grisel M. Robles-Schrader is currently affiliated with the Division of Adolescent Medicine in Pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco.

The Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions

The Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) and Connect to Protect® were supported by grants U01 HD040533 and U01 HD040474 from the National Institutes of Health through the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development with supplemental funding from the National Institutes on Drug Abuse and Mental Health. Additional grants that supported this work at the ATN sites include: Children's Diagnostic and Treatment Center: U01 HD040476; Children's Hospital of Los Angeles: U01 HD040463; Children's National Medical Center: U01 HD040562; John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County and the CORE Center: U01 HD040515; Montefiore Medical Center: U01HD040499; Mount Sinai Medical Center: U01 HD040505; University of California at San Francisco: U01 HD040506; University of Maryland: U01 HD040584; University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: U01 HD040481; and University of South Florida: U01 HD040497. The authors thank the investigators and staff of the ATN listed in Harper, Willard, and Ellen's (2012 {this issue}) “Connect to Protect®: Utilizing Community Mobilization and Structural Change to Prevent HIV Infection Among Youth” for their valuable contributions to this project. In addition, the authors are grateful for editorial assistance from Douglas Bruce and Kate Chutuape, and transcription support from Laura Thomas and Carolina Rodriguez.